Improvement in machines for filling and weighing packages



A. STEARNS. Machine for Filling and Weighing Packages.

No. 219,322. Patented Sept. 2,1879.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

ALBERT STEARNS, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES EOR FILLING AND WEIGHING PACKAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 219,322, dated September 2, 1879 application filed July 19, 1879. J

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT STEARNS, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain ImprovementsinVVeighing-l\f[achines, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention more particularly relates to apparatus for measuring out in weighed quantities, within bags, packages, or other suitable receivers, drugs, including bicarbonate of soda and other materials which it is desirable should be put up in a loose state, as distinguished from being hard-packed or jammed.

The invention consists in certain combinations of devices, including a rotating feedscrew within a filling-funnel, and operating, also, as a valve, a weighingplatform, a trigger operated by said platform, a hammer supported by the trigger, a trippingbar actuated by the hammer, a shifting and tripping rod for controlling a driving clutch, and a starting-bar for setting the apparatus and putting its feed-screw in motion, substantially as hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1' and 2 represent vertical sections of a weighing machine or apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention, and showing the working parts in different positions; Fig. 3, a top view of the same, and Fig. 4 an under view thereof.

A indicates a main frame, which may be of any suitable construction, but is preferably provided with a table or intermediate floor, B. O is a weighing-platform, arranged above the table B and beneath a filling funnel, D, having a neck, 1), below, through which the material to be weighed is discharged, and which may serve to receive around it the mouth of a bag or other receptacle for the material as weighed out, said bag or receptacle resting on the platform 0.

The filling-funnel D has arranged within it a rotating feed-screw, E, the same passing down within said funnel into the neck I). This screw serves to keep the material loose or lively, to tone or regulate its discharge, free from all packing or jamming, and, by its approximately elose fit within the neck I) of the funnel D, to serve as a valve when its motion is stopped, to arrest the discharge of the material.

F is a hopper for feeding the material to be weighed to the funnel D.

The weighingplatform C is mounted on a bar, G, which is free to slide up and down through the table B, and is connected below with a steelyard, H, preferably provided with a removable weight and an adj ustable weight to determine as required the weighed quantities of material.

1 is a trigger or tripping device, which is mainly in the form of a bar, pivoted at c, and which has a trip ing-lip or shouldered portion, (Z, and screw (1, to provide for catching and supporting a hammer, J, and so that the latter, which works on a pivot, 8, may be readily tripped when required. Said trigger, which may be balanced, or nearly so, by means of a weight, 0, or otherwise, extends beneath a pin or projection, f, on the platform-bar G.

K is a starting'bar, pivoted at g, and having an arm, h, which is provided with a liftingscrew, i, that, on hand-pressure being applied to depress a push-rod, 7., connected with said starting-bar, causes the screw 17 to raise the hammer J and set it on the lip or shouldered portion d of the trigger I. The depression of the push-rod 7; also causes the starting-bar K to lift a shifting-rod, L, and move a clutchlever, M, which puts in clutch gear or connection the shaft S, which carries the feed-screw E, with a driving-pulley, N, running loose on said shaft, said shaft and pulley being fitted, the one with a sliding clutch, O, and the other with a fixed clutch, O.

The shifting-rod L is not only capable of rising and falling, but also of slight motion in the same horizontal plane as the starting-bar K, and is provided with a step or projection, m, which, when the rod L is raised, catches onto or over a tripping rest or shelf, a, the lap 'of the step on the shelf being adjusted by a screw, 1'. .P is a tripping-bar, pivoted at s, and balanced, or nearly so, by a spring, t. This tripping-bar is struck by the hammer J when released from the trigger I, and, as it is moved by the action of the hammer, it strikes a screw, a, and shifts the rod L, with its step on, from ofi the shelf a.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The weights on the steelyard H having been adjusted to correspond with the quantities by weight of the material to be weighed which the bags or packages should contain, and to lift the platform 0, the loose pulley N is set in motion by a belt, and a bag or package is then placed upon the platform immediately under or around the neck I) of the funnel D, and the latter being supplied from the hop per F with the material to be weighed the push-rod 7c is depressed by the hand. This action of the push-rod operates the startingbar K, and causes its lift-ing-screwt' to raise the hammer J onto the tripping-lip d of the trigger I, and also causes the starting-bar K to lift the shifting-rod L and put the step or projection m of the latter onto the tripping rest or shelf n, and likewise to put the sliding clutch O in gear with the pulley-clutch O. This sets the feed-screw E in motion, and, upon a suflicient weight of material being supplied from the funnel D to the bag or pack age on the platform 0 to counterbalance, or slightly more than counterbalance, the weight or weights on the steelyard H, the platform drops, and the pin or projectionfou the platform-bar G acts upon the trigger I to tilt the latter and to trip or throw from off its lip or shoulder portion the hammer J, which accordingly drops, and in falling strikes the trippingbar P, that in being depressed acts upon the screw it of the shifting-rod L, and throws the step m of the latter from off the shelf a. The shiftingrod L accordingly drops, and throws the sliding clutch 0 from out of gear with the clutch 0 and arrests the motion of the feed screw E, thus stopping all further supply of material to the package.

A weighing-machineconstructed and operating as described will measure out, both in small and large weighedquantities,drugs and other materials with accuracy, and without jamming or packing of the material, by simply keeping the hopper F or the funnel D properly charged with material, and pressing on the push-rod It to set the machine each time a new package is to be filled.

I claim 1. The combination of a filling funnel or receptacle, a rotating teed-screw, also acting as a valve within said tunnel, a weighing-platform, a trigger operated by said platform, a clutch connecting the rotating feed-screw with a driving pulley or device, and tripping mechanism controlled by the platform and opera-ting the clutch, substantially as specilied. 2. The combimuiou, with the platform-bar G, of the trigger I, the hammer J, and the balanced tripping-bar P, essentially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

The combination of the smrtiug-bar K. with the hammer J and the trigger I, substantially as and for the purpose described.

l. The combination. with a tripping bar or device controlled by the weighing-platlorm, of the shifting-rod L, having a step or projection, m, the tripping shelf a, and the clutches O O, essentially as and for the purpose described.

5. The combination of the starting-bar K with the shifting-rod L and its tripping shelf a. the clutches O O, the hammer J, the trigger I, and the tripping-bar P, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

ALBERT STEARNS.

W itnesscs FREDK. HAYNES, '1. J. KEANE. 

